Construction News

In a move to replace two aging elementary schools, work could begin late next year on the more than $20 million construction of a new elementary school in Carlsbad, New Mexico.The long-anticipated project is designed to replace two schools that are more than half a century old: the Craft Elementary School at 406 W. Lea Street, and the Joe Stanley Elementary School at 408 N. Canyon Street.Members of the Carlsbad Municipal School Board have approved a contract with the Carlsbad-based Mitchell & Cruse Architecture and Dekker/Perich/Sabatini of Albuquerque to design the new structure.Although it was earlier estimated that the new school would cost at least $31 million to build, the school board last spring determined that the project could not exceed $26 million. Some estimates now peg the price as low as $22 million.The Carlsbad Municipal Schools District has recently been going through a facility restructuring. It closed four elementary schools and built two replacement facilities last year.Work on the new school will be funded out of a $60 million bond passed by district voters in 2014.Plans call for a 78,000 square foot structure that will be built to accommodate just over 600 students. The building will go up east of the Early Childhood Education Center, also located on N. Canyon Street.The design development phase of the project is scheduled to conclude next March, with the new school completed and open for students by early 2020.